Hyderabad: In what could be perturbing for the media, the Telangana government is seriously toying with the idea of regulating the entry of journalists to the Secretariat. Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has a penchant for behaving aggressively with the media.
The issue of banning the media from the Secretariat came up for discussion when the CM held a meeting with Telangana Press Academy Chairman Allam Narayana, government adviser K.V. Ramana Chary and information commissioner R.V. Chandravadan to discuss media issues. Restrictions on media entry into the Chief Minister’s chamber in the Legislative Assembly were already imposed for the first time during the Budget session in November last year.
Though Mr Narayana and Mr Chary denied these rumours, sources said the Chief Minister is upset with some TV channels and newspapers over giving false scrolls and imaginative reports about his meetings with officials and ministers in the CMO even before they were held or completed. Mr Rao has been adopting a “confrontationist attitude” with the media soon after assuming charge as Chief Minister.
In his very first speech as Chief Minister in the Legislative Assembly in June last year, he threatened to enforce the Cable TV Act along the lines of Tamil Nadu to rein in TV channels alleging that TV9 and ABN Andhra Jyothi were resorting to “malicious campaign” against Telangana and made fun of the TS Assembly and MLAs while they were taking oath in the House. TV9 and ABN channels continue to face the ban in TS since June last year with cable TV operators boycotting them on the ground of being “anti-Telangana” though there are allegations that it is being done on the directions of the TRS government. Later, his remarks against the media in Warangal in September 2014, stirred a controversy after he threatened to “bury” the media “10 feet under the earth” if they continued to “insult” Telangana and its people.
When contacted Mr Narayana and Mr Chary said, no such issue of imposing restrictions on the media to the Secretariat came up for discussion in the CM’s meeting. Issues relating to health cards and accreditation cards for journalists were discussed. CPRO in the CMO Jwala Narasimha Rao said, “No decision on media restrictions were taken in the meeting. The government issued no directions in this regard.”
Sources said, some legislators, officials and other public representatives complained to the Chief Minister against some ministers spending hours together with media personnel in their chambers in the Secretariat while denying appointment to them to discuss important issues. It is learnt that the government is planning to issue limited passes to media to enter the Secretariat besides banning the entry of media into the CMO, ministers and secretaries’ chambers unless there is an invitation to cover news.
